


Blame It On The Art

by waroftheposes



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-01-25
Packaged: 2018-05-16 02:52:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5810755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waroftheposes/pseuds/waroftheposes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam spends the latter part of their museum field trip with their guide, but the phone number at the end of the trip comes as a bit of a surprise. Gansey says it's all good, nice even, that their guide liked him. Ronan, well... Ronan doesn't really say anything. He storms away in a cloud of anger, leaving Adam baffled and confused.</p>
<p>Liking Ronan Lynch is sometimes really, really difficult.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blame It On The Art

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing a story about jealousy and young love, somehow in the middle it turned into a love letter to art and then it turned back again into a story about young love.
> 
> My friends help me make stories less crappy, thank you friends, you are the best.

Adam is quite fond of school field trips, not only do they give him a brief escape from Henrietta, they’re usually educational and interesting. He’s also fond of art museums. There’s something about the knowledge that the various pieces of art in front of him are so old, and so precious, that fills a yearning in him. They’re fragile, and chance could have destroyed them with fires or floods or wars, but they survived. The art pieces survived against all odds and they sit in museums now, ready for Adam or anyone else to view.

Adam feels hope when he looks at art.

So he’s really excited when their history teacher takes them to the National Gallery of Art for their annual field trip. Museums trips are delightful.

At least they are to him. Ronan, who is occupying the bus seat next to Adam, has not stopped complaining since the bus set off towards DC.

“An art gallery? Who the fuck even cares?”

Adam glances at him. Ronan is slumping in his seat, his eyebrows furrowed, playing with his wristbands. “I thought you liked art?” Adam tilts his head to look at Ronan’s neck, where he imagines he can see traces of Ronan’s tattoo.

Ronan bristles, a hand coming up to cover his neck, just where Adam’s gaze lands. “Yeah, I like some art. Not boring garbage art like Professor Shithead is gonna show us.”

“Don’t be a dick, Ronan,” Adam says, rolling his eyes, but there’s no heat in it. Ronan will be Ronan, and he’ll have no respect for teachers, ever.

“You’re mistaking me for…” Ronan raises himself, looking over the various heads and pointing when he finds it. “That one right there,” he’s pointing at Gansey. “Who can’t help it, really, he is a literal dick.”

Adam punches him on the arm, but he can’t help the small laugh that escapes him.

“What are they gonna do, expel me from school?” Ronan goes on.

Adam recoils at the remark, looking down at his hands, his own sacrifice to keep Ronan in school suddenly an overwhelming presence in his thoughts. Sensing Adam’s shifting mood, Ronan swears quietly and changes the subject.

“I’m gonna die of boredom, just you watch.”

Adam smiles lightly at him. “You will not die.”

“And if I do?” Ronan asks.

“Then I’ll owe you one.”

\--

Their visit to the National Gallery of Art, according to their teacher--“Professor Shithead,” Ronan interjects every time Adam references him, even though they don’t call their teachers “professor”--is to look at some Medieval Manuscripts. As they wait for their guide in the lobby, their teacher tells them a brief account of illuminated manuscripts, their origin and their rise to prominence in Medieval Europe. He is about to tell them about the Lindisfarne Gospels and, he begins excitedly, the Book of Kells, when their guide shows up.

As far as manuscript specialists go, their guide is very young. He could still be a teenager, but as he introduces himself, Adam is less taken by his age and more by how handsome he is. Adam glances at Gansey, who stands in his mind as the epitome of all handsome features and good breeding, and somehow, this man is even more put together. His clothes, his hair, everything is immaculate.

Adam wonders briefly whether he is attracted to their guide.

They view the manuscript, their teacher talking more than their guide, and Adam realizes that all the talk about medieval manuscripts was for naught. The parchments presented to them date too far past the High Middle Ages, and are too few to be of interest to anyone.

Their tour over, their teacher urges them to look at the rest of the collection and sets them loose. Gansey, immediately follows him, having questions that were not answered during their tour.

Adam turns to Ronan, “Would you like to look around?”

Ronan’s answer is a scoff.

Adam shrugs and leaves him, trying not to start a fight. He is irritated though, he feels it as he moves through the collections. There is a temporary exhibit called “The Dying Gaul” and Adam wanders into it, accepting a brochure from a guard without even noticing. He’s irritated and annoyed and as he inspects the detail on an elaborate painting--titled “Ancient Rome”--he pinpoints his annoyance to Ronan. He wants Ronan to wander around the museum with him, to look at this beautiful painting and make crude remarks. He’d want Ronan with him even if Ronan chose to remain silent the entire time. It’s only his presences that Adam craves… his company.

_Do I like Ronan?_ He thinks as he inspects a small bronze copy of _The Dying Gaul_.

Evidence all point to yes. He wants to spend time with Ronan. He wants to hear Ronan make crude remarks about priceless works of art. He wants to look at Ronan, to hear him laugh, to hear him swear. He wants to touch Ronan’s hands, to see whether his hands are as tough as the outer shell he’s built himself.

_Oh,_ Adam thinks, realization hitting him with force. _I want to touch Ronan’s hands._

Perhaps he should not be so surprised by this realization, but Adam’s own mind is more alien to him than any other entity in the world. To come to know even a small part of it is surprising. To come to know that he yearns for someone, well, that is outright baffling.

_Does Ronan like me?_ He asks himself then, watching the curves on the tiny sculpture’s body.

The evidence points again to yes. Ronan has let Adam into the most private parts of his life. Ronan has paid Adam’s rent, has made him a mix tape, has noticed Adam’s chapped hands and provided him with hand cream. Ronan studies Adam when he thinks no one is looking.

But…

It could all be for nothing. Adam could be reading the signs wrong. Ronan might only be trying to be a good friend.

“You’re interested in renaissance sculpture?” A voice startles Adam out of his thoughts, and he turns to see their guide standing with him and watching the statue. Now that the man is standing next to him, Adam admits to himself that he is a bit attracted to their guide.

“That one is usually kept on the third floor of the Bargello,” the man goes on, laughing at a joke only he knows.

Adam can’t remember their guide’s name, he also doesn’t know what the Bargello is, so he nods politely.

“Most people don’t realize that the Bargello has a third floor, you see,” the guide says. “So most people don’t ever see the sculptures there.” The man finally looks at Adam, instead of the sculpture. “I haven’t introduced myself, Ethan Forrester.” He extends a hand to Adam, which Adam shakes. “You are?”

“Adam Parrish,” Adam responds. “Aren’t you a bit young to be a guide?” Adam asks, figuring he might as well make conversation, since the man doesn’t look like he plans to leave.

“Oh, I just graduated with a bachelor’s,” Ethan says. “So yes, I am a bit young,” he shrugs. “I’m only an intern though, not an actual employee.”

“You work in the manuscript exhibit?” Adam asks.

“I work where they want me to, but yes, I specialized in manuscripts. I do know some things about this exhibit though,” he says and moves Adam towards a painting, or… Adam thinks it’s a painting, but it looks somewhat different.

“Looks like an etching to me,” Ethan says, without Adam asking.

“Etching?” Adam asks, a bit embarrassed that he doesn’t know what that is.

“It’s a form of printmaking. You use a sharp pencil tool to draw on metal and then you cover it with ink and use a press to put it on paper,” Ethan explains. “But I’m not sure if this one is an etching. I don’t actually know much about art that was made after the Middle Ages.”

Adam laughs, following him around from painting to painting. He finds he is enjoying himself. Ethan is very obviously into the art he’s talking about, and Adam has respect for both his knowledge and his passion.

They leave the actual sculpture--the Roman one the exhibit is named after--for last. They’ve only begun looking at it, Ethan has only begun describing the Pergamon dynasty to Adam when Ronan barges into the exhibit, looking both annoyed and bored until his eyes catch on Adam. They flicker between Adam and Ethan, and something dark crosses over Ronan’s features.

Adam beckons to him, despite the angry cloud surrounding Ronan.

“Gansey’s looking for you, Parrish,” Ronan says when he reaches them. He doesn’t even look at Ethan. “He’s gonna piss himself with worry soon, he thinks you’ve been lost.”

Adam feels annoyance gnawing at his guts again. “I’ve been here the entire time,” he snaps. If Ronan had come with him, he’d know this. “Ethan’s been showing me the exhibit.”

The look Ronan directs at Ethan is nothing if not an invitation for war. Ethan extends his hand in greeting, but retreats it when all Ronan does is glare at it.

“Nice to meet you,” Ethan states weakly, looking confused.

“Ronan,” Adam supplies when Ethan looks at a loss. “Ignore him, he gets nervous around new people.” To Ronan he says, “What do you want?”

“I came to find you so Gansey doesn’t kill himself with worry.”

“Ok, well go tell him where I am,” Adam retorts. “I’ll find you guys later.”

Ronan looks affronted, looks like he’s about to say something. But the moment passes and Ronan brushes it off. “Whatever then, bye.”

He turns to leave and Adam watches, feeling angry and annoyed and so very frustrated. Yet, despite himself, he calls after Ronan. “You could stay?”

Ronan half turns and for a moment, Adam thinks he will come back. But he doesn’t, he just rolls his shoulders and adopts his usual bored expression. “You have fun with Edward,” he says, and then he’s gone.

“Friend of yours?” Ethan asks, ironically.

Suddenly, Adam is annoyed at him; at his beautiful hair, and pristine clothes and his vast knowledge of art. “Yes,” he snaps. “He is.”

Ethan looks surprised, but he takes it well. “Pleasant fellow.”

That makes Adam laugh. “He’s an acquired taste,” he turns back to _The Dying Gaul_ , reminding himself that Ethan has done nothing but be polite the whole time. It’s not Ethan who has offended him. “Tell me more about the sculpture.”

\--

To his surprise, when Ethan leaves him, he hands him a phone number. “For when you’re in DC again.”

Adam is staring at it, wondering whether Ethan was flirting with him the entire time, when Gansey and Ronan find him.

“What’s that?” Gansey asks, pointing to the piece of paper.

“A phone number,” Adam says, awed. “The guide just gave me his number.”

“The guide?” Gansey sounds confused.

“Ernest,” Ronan provides.

“Ethan,” Adam corrects without thinking. “He was showing me around the temporary exhibit, and then he gave me his number.”

Gansey beams, “He liked you,” he says as he claps Adam in the back. “That’s cool, right?”

“Yeah, it’s great, isn’t it?” Ronan mocks, and Adam glances up at him. Before either Gansey or Adam has had a chance to say something, he storms away, into the bus that is waiting to take them back to Henrietta.

Adam and Gansey follow at a slower pace, and separate only to go to their assigned seats. Ronan is asleep when Adam sits next to him, well, at least he’s pretending to be, which is a clear sign that he does not wish to talk. Adam wonders at Ronan’s anger. Wonders whether Ronan is angry because he can be, or because something has ticked him off. Adam wonders if Ronan’s anger is because of him, because of the phone number.

Ronan can’t be angry just because he wants to be. Lately, Ronan has been, if not cheerful, at least less volatile. Lately, Ronan only resorts to anger when he is forced to confront his own feelings.

Which makes Adam wonder again, is Ronan angry because of Ethan?

The bus ride is boring and silent in the absence of Ronan’s conversation, and Adam wants so badly to shake him, to force him to talk. He would not have done so last summer, but now, he feels a bit more bold, and before he has time to doubt himself, his hands find Ronan’s shoulder and shakes.

“What?” Ronan grumbles, opening his eyes.

“I’m bored,” Adam states. The truth is more likely to produce results than an elaborate lie.

“The fuck am I gonna do about it?” Ronan asks, sitting up. “I’m not your fucking television, Parrish.”

“I don’t watch TV,” Adam says. “Just talk to me, this bus ride is unbearable.”

Ronan looks at him incredulously. “The fuck am I gonna talk about?”

“I don’t know, Lynch,” Adam snaps, “Anything, everything? The museum we just went to, for example.”

“It was boring as fuck,” Ronan says, then, in a much more poisonous tone, “You enjoyed yourself though.”

Adam glares at him. “Yeah, no thanks to you.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means,” Adam begins. “That you left me on my own and I was wandering around the museum like a fucking loser.”

“Not the entire time though,” Ronan retorts. “Just until Elliot found you.”

“Yeah, he was nice,” Adam mumbles, thinking of the phone number again.

The dark cloud settles over Ronan’s features again. “And he liked you.”

“I mean…” Adam stammers.

“What? He gave you his number, knowing full well you were going back to Shitville, that means he liked you.”

Adam shrugs. “He was kind of handsome,” he concedes.

Ronan’s eyebrows go so far up his forehead at this statement, that Adam thinks they might touch his hairline. “You liked him?”

“I just said he was handsome,” Adam responds, annoyed.

“Whatever,” Ronan says. “Date whoever the fuck you want. Why do I care?” And with that, he turns away from Adam and slumps back against the seat, conversation over.

Adam almost kicks him in frustration.

\--

The problem with liking Ronan Lynch is that he’d rather chop off one of his own limbs than talk about his feelings. He is angry when they reach Henrietta. Fuming as Gansey drives them all to Monmouth. He storms out of the Pig before Gansey puts it into park; the BMW is out of the Monmouth parking lot in less than a minute.

When Ronan is gone, Adam turns to Gansey and confides. “I think I made him angry.”

Gansey shrugs it off and leads Adam upstairs to the main floor of Monmouth. “I’m sure it wasn’t your fault, Ronan gets angry at everything.”

Adam sits down on Gansey’s bed, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. “I know it wasn’t my fault,” he sighs, opening his eyes and gesturing at the door. “But I think all that was because of me.”

Gansey regards Adam thoughtfully, sitting gingerly next to him on the bed and looking like he’s very much trying to curb his curiosity. “What happened?”

Adam takes a deep breath and considers whether he should tell Gansey about his museum revelations. On the one hand, Gansey is his best friend, and Gansey is sweet and understanding, and would be supportive of Adam’s feelings no matter what. Also, Adam suspects that Gansey will be elated once he finds out Adam has feelings for Ronan--it would mean Adam no longer likes Blue. Adam only sees positive things in telling Gansey about his feelings, but still, it feels so hard to get the words out.

He takes a deep breath again.

“Ok so I...” he breaks off, gathering up his courage, putting his thoughts in order. “I told Ronan I thought our guide was hot.”

Gansey frowns and crosses his arms. He tilts his head in confusion. “Ok?” he asks.

“I did think that he was,” Adam says quickly. “I thought our guide was kind of hot.”

Gansey continues watching Adam.

“I mean, because I guess I like guys as well as girls?”

Understanding dawns on Gansey’s face. “There’s nothing wrong with that,” he says, his voice full of wonder and understanding.

“Yeah, I know,” Adam says quickly. Then thinking that his response might have seemed rude, he adds, “Thanks,” and smiles at Gansey.

They sit in silence for a moment, both getting used to Adam’s revelation.

“Ok, so Ronan is mad?” Gansey asks after a while, steering the conversation back to its original topic.

“I think he’s jealous,” Adam goes on, “because I thought our guide was hot. Which he shouldn’t be by the way, he has no reason to be jealous, I didn’t _like_ our guide.”

Gansey’s face has adopted the confused look again. “But you _like_ Ronan?”

Adam bites his lip. This part, the telling Gansey that he likes Ronan part, is even harder than revealing his sexuality. It’s ridiculous really, most people have a hard time coming out to their friends. Adam has a hard time telling his best friend that he has a crush on said best friend’s other best friend. He can’t look Gansey in the eye, instead his glance focuses on the spot where his hands rest on the bed. He nods once.

“You like Ronan,” Gansey repeats, this time as a statement.

Adam nods again, still unable to look Gansey in the eye.

“Romantically?” Gansey asks. “You, _like_ like him?”

Adam nods for the third time.

“Oh...” Gansey says, but it’s a nice, friendly ‘oh’ and it puts Adam in a better mood.

Adam finally looks at Gansey. “So I accidentally implied to the boy that I like,” he says quickly, because even though Gansey has been very accepting, it still feels a bit embarrassing to admit to his feelings so openly, “that I find another man attractive.”

“Well,” Gansey says slowly. “Do you know where Ronan stands as far as feelings are involved?”

Adam shrugs. “I’m almost certain he feels the same? Hence the pissy mood earlier.”

“Well,” Gansey says. “You can always tell him how you feel?”

“But Ronan hates talking about his feelings,” Adam sighs. “It’s hopeless.”

“Hey,” Gansey says, clapping Adam on the back. “I don’t want to hear that defeatist attitude. Hang out here until he gets back and then corner him before he can escape. That way he has to talk to you.”

Adam regards gansey with a smile. “Corner him before he escapes?”

Gansey shrugs. “Parrish, I know how Ronan can be too.”

“Brought it on myself,” Adam mutters darkly, which makes Gansey laugh.

“You really did, my friend,” Gansey agrees.

And so they wait.

And wait.

And wait until 11:00 PM. They pass the time by going over Gansey’s notes and books on Glendower and quizzing each other on calculus concepts. Ronan returns just before 11:30, slamming the door and glancing briefly at Adam and Gansey. He doesn’t even say hello, just nods at them and goes to his room.

Gansey takes off his glasses after Ronan has retreated to his room, rubbing his eyes. “Alright,” he stands up and pulls Adam up as well. “Good luck,” he says and shoves Adam towards Ronan’s door.

Adam walks towards the door slowly, his heartbeat hiking up as he draws near it. He doesn’t bother knocking, just tries the handle, sees that it is unlocked, and opens it.

Inside, he quickly locks the door. Ronan opens his eyes just as the lock has clicked.

“The fuck do you want, Parrish?”

Adam turns around quickly and finds Ronan sitting half up on his bed. “I wanted to talk to you,” his nerves must show in the way his accent slips out of control, and Ronan’s frown deepens.

“What about?” Ronan is sitting up completely now, and Adam sits next to him hesitantly.

“About, today at the museum,” Adam forces out. “You were pretty worked up… about Ethan.”

Adam chances a glance at Ronan then, and is suddenly glad he’s sitting down. Ronan looks horror stricken, as if he’s about to puke.

“I wanted to tell you,” Adam says quickly, before Ronan can deny anything. “That I would have much rather seen the exhibit with you, even though you know nothing about art,” he stops then, and tries to raise his gaze from his hands to Ronan’s face, but he can’t. No matter how much he hypes himself, he just can’t. “And that I’m not interested in Ethan, I’m never gonna call him. He’s nice and he’s hot, but you don’t have to worry about him.”

_Or anyone,_ Adam wants to add, but he’s not sure he’d be able to be _that_ honest. He looks at Ronan again, finally able to convince his own eyes to obey him.

Ronan looks... taken back, surprised, perhaps a bit angry. He looks like he doesn’t believe what’s happening at the moment, like he hasn’t understood what Adam just said. Silence fills the room as Ronan stares disbelievingly at Adam and Adam stares right back, hopeful.

Then, when minutes have passed and Ronan has said nothing, doubt begins to gnaw at Adam. Perhaps he’d read the signs wrong, perhaps Ronan does only like him as a friend.

“I just thought you should know,” he says swallowing, and stands up. He’s halfway through the door when Ronan whispers his name.

Adam turns around as Ronan walks towards him, stopping only a step away.

They stand there in silence, neither able to say anything nor able to look at each other.

Then finally, Ronan breaks the silence. “Tell me if I understood you wrong, ok?”

And Adam, not really understanding what Ronan has said, nods.

Slowly, Ronan raises a hand to Adam’s cheek. The point of contact sends shivers down Adam’s spine and Adam closes his eyes. He closes his eyes, and so, doesn’t see Ronan lean in, doesn’t see the determination in Ronan’s eyes. His eyes are closed so when he feels Ronan’s lips against his, Adam gasps in surprise.

But he kisses back immediately, he doesn’t want Ronan to think he understood Adam wrong. Ronan’s lips are firm and gentle against his, but the kiss is brief, ending before it even begins. Adam’s heart is beating hard when Ronan retreats, and he opens his eyes to see the same look of wonder in Ronan’s eyes that Adam feels himself.

“You didn’t understand wrong,” Adam says after what feels like a thousand heartbeats. “You didn’t understand wrong at all.”

Ronan blinks at him and then, his face breaks into a genuine smile. Adam smiles back, biting his lip and feelings suddenly shy. He looks down on the ground, then forces himself to look back at Ronan.

Looking at Ronan’s face is like looking directly at the sun, it fills Adam with so many thoughts and feelings that Adam cannot stare for very long.

Ronan grabs his hand and pulls him towards the bed. They sit down.

“So,” Adam begins, when Ronan doesn’t. “That happened.”

“Edward was wasting his time, then?” Ronan’s smile has turned into a shit eating grin. “Poor bastard.”

Adam punches him lightly on the arm. “You used that one before, your jokes are getting old.”

Ronan squeezes Adam’s hand. “Doesn’t really matter to you though, cause you like me,” he teases, extending the “i” in the word “like” to unnecessary proportions.

“I do,” Adams says, although he can’t look directly at Ronan. “I really do.”

He feels Ronan’s arms around him and lips against his own before his sentence even finishes. Their second kiss is longer, and bit more wet. Adam doesn’t mind though, he kisses Ronan until Ronan pulls back, then kisses him again just because he can.

\--

“I like you too,” Ronan says, much later, when they’re lying down on Ronan’s bed. “God, so much.”

Adam feels dizzy with joy, but to Ronan, he only says, “I know.”

“Asshole, no you don’t,” Ronan laughs. “You only know because I told you.”

Adam turns to look at him, at the sharp angles of his face and the warmth in his blue eyes. “Yeah,” he says wistfully. “I know because you told me.”

“Next time,” Ronan says, running his hand up and down Adam’s arm. “We can look at the dumb art together, ok?”

“Ok,” Adam responds softly. “It’s a date.”

And it feels like a promise.

**Author's Note:**

> The exhibit that Adam sees is a past exhibit at the National Gallery of Art [here](http://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/exhibitions/pdfs/2013/dyinggaulfinalbrochure.pdf) is the brochure.
> 
> I'm [here](http://waroftheposes.tumblr.com) on tumblr if anyone wants to come and say hey.


End file.
